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The Vipassana Blog:Day Zero

In a few hours, we leave for our Vipassana retreat. It is only an hour,s drive to Montebello, so we will leave at around 11, to reach well in time for our check in.

Both Anila and I are a little apprehensive, now that the day is finally here. It seems like the beginning of a very long journey, although Montebello is only an hour away.

We are travelling quite heavy. Two full suitcases, plus two travelling bags for quilts. Since we are going by car, just the two of us, we are able to carry a lot of stuff. It’s good to be prepared;we might simply leave some things in the car. I am also taking a camera along, just in case we are allowed to take pictures on the last day of the retreat.

The last few days have been very hectic. We had the bat issue, and we had to call in the animal control specialists to fix some things in our house. They only finished the work yesterday. According to these specialists, there might be a colony of upto 30 bats living in our house. The specialist has sealed all the openings that could be possible entry points and he has installed one way traps that will allow the bats to leave but not return.

I guess we will be doing much of the same during our Vipassana retreat. Ten days of meditation should allow plenty of thoughts and impressions safe passage from our mind, with no re-entry points to our mind.

It is an exciting concept and let’s see how it unfolds over the next ten days.

We have a party to go to, the day we come back. It is the fiftieth birthday of our nephew and it will be a major celebration. It will also be a real test of how we deal with the world after ten days of complete withdrawal.